The Mouse and Tissue Core (Core B) is designed to enhance the scientific objectives and cost-effectiveness of the Program Project in the following ways: 1) by serving as a central facility for the breeding and maintenance of mouse models of diabetes and atherosclerosis utilized by program project investigators, 2) by participating in the planning and implementation of longitudinal studies of these murine models, 3) by serving as a central facility for the collection and processing (freezing and/or fixation and paraffin embedding) of tissues and cells from these murine models, 4) by providing investigators with expertise in pathology-based analytical techniques such as histological staining, immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence microscopy and in situ hybridization, most of which will be performed in this Core unit, and 5) by quantifying and characterizing atherosclerotic lesions and providing morphological characterization of other tissues taken from murine models used by program project investigators. Centralizing and standardizing planning, breeding and maintenance of mice for animal experiments, as well as tissue collection and methods of analyses in a single, integrated Core will increase the likelihood of obtaining reliable results and not compel individual Projects to perform duplicative animal experiments or to develop technical expertise in these areas. Further, carrying out these studies in a single, integrated Core will allow the results to be made available to each project in a way that facilitates Project interactions.